Nudie is one of the dogs being trained to detect the biting critters by Peruyero's J&K Canine Academy in High Springs in collaboration with University of Florida entomologists.

Absent from the U.S. for so long that some thought they were a myth, bedbugs are back with a vengeance.

The National Pest Control Association reports that exterminators who were getting one or two bedbug calls a year are now getting that many in a week — roughly 50 times the number of calls.

That puts dogs like Nudie in the front lines of defense against the blood-sucking critters that come out at night to feed.

She was among some 20 dogs being tested for their termite and bedbug-detecting accuracy during the Southeast Pest Management Conference on the University of Florida campus.

"We've been working to try to make sure that there are quality dogs out there to detect termites, and now bedbugs," said Phil Koehler, an entomology professor with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

"Both those pests are very difficult to detect in structures," he said.

Nudie works for treats from her owner and handler, Jose "Pepe" Peruyero, who found her at the Lake City animal shelter.

She scrabbles across a mattress in a demonstration of her bug-sniffing accuracy.

"Find your B's, find your B's," Peruyero commands.

Within seconds, Nudie is pawing furiously at a spot on the bed.

She's found her "B's" — as in bedbugs. She gets a handful of kibble, a hearty "Good girl!" from Peruyero and a kiss on her scruffy head.

The J&K Canine Academy has been training termite-sniffing dogs, usually Brace beagles, for three years in cooperation with UF entomologists. Now the school has begun training dogs to detect a resurgent population of bedbugs.

Dogs aren't a silver bullet when it comes to finding termites or bedbugs, Peruyero says, but they have skills humans don't.

Peruyero explains it like this: A human can walk into a kitchen and know — through sense of smell — that stew is cooking on the stove.

But a dog's sense of smell is so sharp that it can be trained to distinguish a stew made with carrots from one without.

"I tell people they're buying a nose with four legs to carry it," Peruyero says. "They love to eat, love to smell. It's what they live for."

Experts say the resurgence in bedbugs can be attributed in part to the use of less powerful pesticides since DDT was banned in the 1960s.

The critters were all but wiped out in the U.S. until several years ago, when they began migrating here from other countries, health officials say.

Now they've been found in all 50 states, according to the National Pest Control Association.

They're found in hotels or motels, but also in private homes and apartment. They've even been reported on cruise ships.

While they can be unsettling, and leave a reddish welt behind when they bite, experts say bedbugs do not pose a serious health risk.

The return of the bedbug has been good news for Peruyero and the dogs he trains. Peruyero says that he's fielded sales calls and queries from as far away as California and Australia.

"The bedbug training is sort of like hitting the Lotto," the trainer said. "Everybody's interested now."